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[[File:Yosemite.JPG|right|thumb|500px|Running in Yosemite in October 2014. (One of the advantages of [[Running With A Smartphone]] is you always have a camera with you.)]]
This is not the log of each workout I do, but rather a higher level summary of what's happening with my training overall. For a detailed log, I use [[SportTracks]] and publish to [[Dailymile]] at http://www.dailymile.com/people/JonathanS.
==January 2015==
January was a grim awakening for me, with only 236 miles, the lowest since June 2011. Here's what happened:
* Over the years I've become a big believer in [[Downhill Running]]. In the first half of 2014 I did about 360 miles of [[Treadmill Descent]]s that built a great level of endurance. I was able to run some 100 milers without any significant soreness afterward, something that was a big surprise to me.
* After last year's [[2014 Badwater 135| Badwater 135]] in July I dropped the [[Treadmill Descent]]s and focused on base mileage. I finished 2014 having covered 5,200+ miles and feeling strong.
* At the beginning of January I changed my training to do less mileage but include some speedwork, Plyometrics, weight training, and of course, [[Treadmill Descent]]s.
* Having been away from [[Treadmill Descent]]s for six months I figured I'd take it cautiously, but I thought that the high mileage would convey a good level of fitness to build on. I'd been doing 26 mile [[Treadmill Descent]]s in early 2014, so I figured that 10 miles would be okay, but it trashed my legs more than I expected. I did 14 miles a week later, before I'd fully recovered from the first 10 miles and my legs were nuked.
* The next day I was scoring between 2 & 3 on my [[Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness#DOMS Scale| DOMS scale]]. I did a few short runs for the next few days, but my legs were in bad shape; trying to massage my quads was nauseatingly painful.
* 10 days later I tried to run Weymouth Woods 100K but was DNF. I knew my legs were bad within the first few miles, and things got steadily worse.
* I took it easy the week after WW100K, though even a simple 10 miler felt more like 30. Once I recovered I started to build up the [[Treadmill Descent]]s a bit at a time. By the end of the month I was up to 16 miles at a 12% decline. I still have a ways to go, but thing are improving.
The key lesson for me is just how valuable the [[Treadmill Descent]]s are. I look back at the 5,200 miles I ran last year and I feel like I wasted a lot of the time & effort. I'm more than a little bummed, and to add insult to injury I've put on about 7 pounds/3Kg in January. My goal now is to pace the Myrtle Beach Marathon in February and then cram in as much [[Downhill Running]] as possible in preparation for Umstead 100 at the end of March.
{| class="wikitable"
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Miles'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Hours'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Avg Pace'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Num Runs'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Longest'''
|-
| January 2015||236||34||8:36||30||27
|-
| December 2014||440||63||8:37||56||27
|-
| January 2014||402||55||8:16||20||40
|}
==2014 Rievew==
I'm rather unusual for a competitive ultrarunner because I [[How Often To Run| typically run 4 days/week]]. I'm also a little unusual because I often experiment on myself, including experiments where I try to prove myself wrong. As a result, I tried running every day for the second half of 2011, which resulted in a mild case of [[Overtraining Syndrome]]. In 2014 I revisited this experiment, with a number of modifications from my 2011 regiment.
